3 & 4

(See Spanish word of the day)

Lesson 3: People treat you differently according to your supposed place is society. I've been called everything from friend and doctor to probably some really nasty words in Quechua. The reason is because I've never occupied such different places in a society as I do here. See, when I'm in the clinic working with Dr. Allen and Jose everyone sees me as helpful and caring; but, when I'm walking around Cusco or some ruins or riding a bus in San Jeronimo with a monstrous camera around my neck they see me as a tourist, and I know from my dad that locals don't take too kindly to tourists. I often ignore the fact that I am different than the rest of the world around me when I'm somewhere other than the Southeast. All this to say, I've learned that Meg was right about cultural sensitivity. She's always been there to inform me when I stepped out of sheer gringo-ness (gringo is what Latinos often call Americans, not a demeaning term here) into offensiveness. This makes me think about what I can do differently back at home. First, I'd like to be better at including people who feel outside of my Southern-american culture. Also, I think Will and I are going to find some UAB students who are native Spanish speakers who want to learn English better and form a friendship so we can both learn from each other. Most importantly, though, I've learned that I need approach other cultures recognizing that I'm an outsider and to take a learner's stance toward them. I know that I tend to be a little to aggressive with friendship and sometimes people take offense to me invading their lives or space.

Lesson 4: Peru is the land of mysterious nocturnal noises. Seriously, every night we hear things that make very little sense to us. We hear a guy walking down the street with a very distinct whistle, people on loudspeakers making announcements that they will buy our old belongings, dogs barking at all hours, rats training above our heads training for the Beijing Olympics, roosters crowing, pigeons whooing, and even loud explosions from time to time. So, if your coming to San Jeronimo, Peru, expecting quiet solitude you might want to reconsider. Now, I'm sure that these sounds would make a lot more sense if we were native Peruvians who knew how to interpret them, but to me they will remain a mystery.

Spanish word of the day: ojotas. This word in fact has no direct English translation, but allow me to offer my own: "really sweet sandals made by Quechua women out of old car tires". Okay, maybe linguistics isn't my strength, but Meg and I both bought a pair for a whopping $3. We were thinking about marketing these shoes as handmade, fair-trade, environmentally-friendly, and a local economy-stimulating product to sell to the trend setters in the US. I think we have a great marketing idea here, so if anyone is business-minded and can make a sweet logo give me a call.